THE NATURALNESS OF THE SUPERNATURAL.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3666, 14 April 1883, Page 4

THE NATURALNESS OF THE SUPERNATURAL.

[To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sir,— Haying seen an extract in your paper recenth-, entitled "An Honest Declaration," for the sake of fairness I must ask you to kindly insert the subjoined extract, as giving the other aspect of the question.— I am, kc, jb Napier, April 13, 18S3. "The common ground taken by sceptics (says the Pittsburg Advocate, U.S.), in reference to the Christian religion, is that Christianity is unreasonable, because it teaches the supernatural, and the doubts that come unfoibidden to Christians, spring chiefly from the supernatural features of Christianity. Of course there must be something "mysterious about the supernatural, but vet this mysteriousness may not at all diminish it reasonableness. On the contrary, the supernatural in Christianity may be, and is, one ot the most philosophical and reasonable things in the world. For illustration, let us suppose that all the creatures which God had made had been gifted Avith reason and intelli-o-ence, aud, if you please, with a language common to all. An oyster lies in the depth of the ocean, so groAAmto a rock that it cannot possibly liberate itself. All around it are its companions rock-bound like itself. From their birth they have never moved from their place, aud we suppose that they haA-e never seen such motion. It is therefore natural to them to live AvithoutpoAver of locomotion. Suppose now that it were to be told those oysters that there were elsewhere animals much larger than themselves, that lived wholly out of water, and were able to move about from place to place, for great distances, the oyster replies : " I cannot believe this. It is'natural for us to live here in the water, and firmly fastened to the rock, and it would be supernatural for an animal to live out of the water, and to move about here and there, and it is unreasonable because supernatural." But then, avc know that whilst it Avould be supernatural to an oyster to do so, it is perfectly natural to an ox. A_*ain, suppose that the ox, Avhich had never seen anything of the kind, Avere told that there Avei-e goodly-sized animals _ able to rise from the ground by their oavu efforts. ascending to great height in the air, Avhere they moved about at their pleasure, as an ox'may move on the ground. The ox would reply that this Avould be supernatural, and therefore unreasonable. He Avould KlV: _<- When I leap into the air I immediat/ ly fall back again to the gr'-mid, throne h" the huvs of attraction, and to suppose that an animal having Aveight could arise and remain suspended iv the air, would be to believe in the supernatural. But though supernatural to an ox to do so, it is perfectly natural for a bird to thus fly through the air. In other avoixls, an ox can do naturally ivhat AVoiild_ be supernatural to mi oyster, and a bird can do naturally AA-hat Avould be supernatural to an ox. Let us go a step higher. _ Man is created a grade above the ox. Suppose it Avert told an ox that a man can talk Avith his felloAvmen three thousand miles away. Tho ox replies :—"This would be supernatural.! have heard the voice of men, and their voices are no louder than mine, and I can make myself heard only a comparatively short distance." He sees a man sit doAvn to a telegraph table, who makes a motion Avith his fingers, and the ox hears a slight sound, and "says, " I can hardly hear that sound three rods aAvay, and surely one threethousand miles aAvay can hear nothing of this." But then, that man is talking intelligibly to his friend three thousand miles aAvay) and he is doing this naturally, though it would be supernatural for an ox to do so. Thus step by step Aye have seen that what is perfectly natural to an animal of one grade, is supernatural to an animal of a grade below. Let us go one step further. If God is only as much superior to us as an ox to an oyster, then those things Avhich belong to His superiority must, in the nature of the casa, be supernatural to us ; and it is just as reasonable in us to believe in these things of God Avhich are supernatural to us, as it is for us to believe that an ox maybe supernatural to an oyster, or ourselves to an ox. Indeed, Aye Avould have the best of reasons for distrusting the superiority of God if His Avorks Avert- not supernatural as compared to ours. There is nothing unnatural in the supernaturalness of a dhinc plan, a divine rtwelatiou, or a divine salvation. It Avould lie most unnatural for Sir Christopher AVren, the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral, to build himself a habitation like those of the African bushmen, or the digger Indians. It Avould be equally unnatural for an Almighty God to conduct His affairs according to the plans, the fashions, and the comprehensions of a company of mortal men, most of Avhom do not kuoAv Avhat is for their oavii good, and some of Avhom enthrone dead matter in the place of a living God; deny the existence of a creator, and try to prove that they are descended from the monkey, and that the fountain head of all sentiment existence is in the muddy ooze in the bottom of the sea ! The most natural thing around us is the supernatural. Unseen powers and elements environ us on every hand. AYe are beset by miracles aud mysteries, and if at any time science resolves one doubt, it introduces us to a dozen more: as the mighty telescope, solving the hazy mysteries of the milky way, opens to our gaze unnumbered myriads of magnificent orbs, whose very existence is a miracle beyond the comprehension of a finite mind. " Lo, here are parts of His Avnys, but lioav little a portion is heard of Him ': but the thunder of His poAvcr avlio can understand;-*"